To Perforate Alice
by DevilToBeLoved
Summary: Kidnapped from her home to be the Mad Hatter's new Alice, Alice is resourceful and smart beyond belief. With the threat of the Hatter a constant, she finds herself catching the interest of Gotham's worst as well as Gotham's best. (OCxMultiple) (Batman characters are not my creation.)
1. Chapter 1

Her eyes opened in a complete haze, the room around her was blurry and all she could make out were green blotches outlined in black. Blonde tresses hung over her eyes and she struggled to move her head so that the hair would leave, but it pained her to do so and cried out in pain. Within moments a man was in front of her, she was unable to make out his appearance but he was wearing a hat. Slowly, her vision came to focus and her blue eyes blinked rapidly before revealing a short and slightly muscular man staring at her.

Gotham was a place where knowing who was who would do you well. Alice had taken this idea to heart and had studied up on every one of Gotham's renowned villains throughout her high school career after one of the former cheerleaders had been killed at a bank heist. The blonde knew the general rogues that roamed the streets at night, their usual prey, and what they thought of the world. It was something she had taken interest in during a short psychology class that had been taken in Grade Ten. For everyone perceived the world differently, and she was interested in how each person who was considered criminally insane inside of Arkham Asylum's walls interpreted the world around them.

The man in front of her had essentially forced himself to believe he was somewhere else- an Alice in Wonderland syndrome essentially. He had lilliputian hallucinations and perceived the world as if it were Wonderland itself. Jervis Tetch- better known as the Mad Hatter- was a man who excelled in mind control ideas and worshipped Alice from Lewis Carroll's book as if she were a god. In his search for the perfect Alice, he had killed many, and raped dozens. From what the blonde in the wooden chair knew from psychology, his interpretation of the world as Wonderland had come from a psychiatrist within the Asylum using old electric shock techniques, causing the man to eventually have abnormal amounts of blood flow to portions of his brain that created his own Wonderland.

"Alice! Oh, Alice! I'm so happy to see that you are now awake. I was afraid that you weren't my Alice..." The blonde looked around the room and saw that there were three chairs to her right, and one to her left. In all of the chairs sat girls- all too old to be in high school like herself. They were still sleeping, dressed in blue skirts with white aprons over top while they took short, gasping breaths. "You woke up first, and you did not sleep anything like them- so I know you're my real Alice." The Mad Hatter smiled, rubbing a white, fingerless glove over the length of her pale arms before resting his two hands on her shoulders.

He stared in to her eyes, and she saw the flare of rage that ran across his own steely blue orbs. The Hatter was known for violent episodes, which was what led to him molesting and killing a majority of the young women who he abducted. One of the only ways to make sure that someone was safe from his wrath was to be his actual _Alice_, and Alice did just that. "I apologize Hatter," she saw his shoulders stopped their shaking as she continued. "I seem to have a bit of a headache. I woke up and thought that I had drank some bad tea." The man laughed, his hands patting her shoulders and he undid the leather bindings which held her wrists and ankles to the chair.

"I apologize Alice!" He apologized profusely for a few moments before continuing. "I had to use some special drugs when you were sleeping so that no one else would hear me taking you here, to Wonderland!" Slowly, he raised his right hand above his head, and then twirled his finger around the room to show her everything that surrounded the two of them. Besides the four women, they were in a room with various tables- in which each table had a small tea set. In the middle of the room was a much larger and longer table with a tea set as well, but, at this table sat two plump males who wore propeller hats. Tweedledum and Tweedledee, otherwise known as the cousins Dumfree and Deever Tweed. Men with the same obsession as the Mad Hatter.

They were followers, not leaders. Both acted accordingly to the characters that they were and followed the Hatter like pets, obeying his every whim and barking when told. The two could most definitely pass as twins and as they played with the tea cups in front of themselves, they spared a few glances at her through half-lidded eyes before letting their own goofy smiles take over their faces.

"Tweedledee saw you walking home from school and he just knew you were the one I was looking for." The plump man on the right nodded at her and a shiver tingled down the blonde's spine. "If he had not seen you, imagine what would have happened? I would have still been searching for you, and I would have made the mistake of choosing one of these fakes here- only to be proven wrong!" He was exasperated as he struggled with tears which began to build in the corners of his eyes. The man was extremely emotional as he pulled the short girl to her feet, letting her head rest against his own as he stood taller than her by three inches at most.

"That definitely would not have been very good, Hatter. If I may ask, what are you going to do with these women now? As you can certainly see, they're not me. And, what is there to do when someone is not you?" Alice questioned the man as he rubbed their cheeks together, placing a questioning look on her face as she hid her fear at being in such close proximity to him. She knew that she could possibly make the red-haired man let the women go and she would only have to worry about herself when finding her way out of the daunting room.

"Well, for being imposters- I believe I may kill them!" He was happy as he snapped his fingers, letting large men in white colored rabbit masks stand behind the blonde women who continued with their shallow breaths, not knowing of the fate which could befall them. "It's only right, my dear Alice. It is unfair to you if they continue on their meaningless lives masquerading as my dear Alice, is it not?" His left hand moved a stray piece of red hair which had made its way to rest in front of his eyes before beginning a few sexual ministrations on the young girls body.

She squeaked out before starting to talk. "Perhaps they have other things to do in Wonderland? The White Queen has blonde hair- does she not?" The Mad Hatter nodded, as did the two men at the table who sipped their tea carefully. "It takes a while to become a queen, so what good would it do to possibly kill your own White Queen? Let them grow and possibly become who they truly are, for then they can come to Wonderland and be who they should." Alice rationalized and felt his advancement towards the bottom of her own blue skirt stop as he rubbed his stubbly chin. Slowly, he made the rabbit-men back away from the women and pointed towards the door. The rabbit-men undid the binding on the other woman and carried them, almost robotically, towards a door which was hidden in the shadows.

"You're right Alice! I'm so happy to have you by my side! What would I do without you?" The red-haired man complained before dragging her to her own seat at the table, where a name-tag read _Alice_ and a tea cup was filled to the brim for her alone. Alice was dumb by no means, contrary to the grades on her report card, and knew that the girl that the Mad Hatter was looking for would be the epitome of gracefulness and beauty. So, she waited for him to be seated before carefully letting the cup touch her full pink lips- her pinky raised politely as she took one, simple sip.

The cup immediately went back to its appointed place on a coaster as she dabbed her lips with a handkerchief which had been supplied by a rabbit-man who sat beside her. Smiling, Alice gazed at the man who sat at the head of the table and saw his look of appreciation. With a slight glance, Alice saw the skylight which let moonlight illuminate what the small lamps within the room could not. For a short second, she swore she saw two shadows slide down it, but once she had shaken her head slightly, the shadows were gone.

"Mr. Hatter?" The fair-haired girl saw his blue eyes meet her own before he inclined his hat towards her in a gentleman's fashion. "I hate to be forward, but I need to be excused to use the washroom if possible?" Alice questioned politely, watching as he looked to her face for any form of deceit- only to find none on his part. In an agonizingly slow fashion, he lifted from his chair before offering a hand to help her from her own. She took it carefully, letting him interlace their fingers before he pulled her through the dark door in the corner the woman had been carried through.

Cracking cement walls were all the small blonde could see as they twisted and turned through a multitude of pathways that eventually led to a washroom. The Hatter beckoned her to open the door and once she did, he moved to join her inside the dirty row of stalls, only to have her frightened stare stop him. "Oh! Of course a lady like you, Alice, would like her privacy! A man like me would do no good to bother you at this time. I shall wait outside the door for you." He skipped to the side of the door, standing beside it with his straightest posture as she eyed him, before Alice stepped in to the room, viewing the brown on the floor which immediately began to soil and stain the black mary-jane styled shoes she wore on her feet.

Carefully, Alice tip-toed her way to the furthest toilet stall, which had a window above it. Softly, her feather-like fingers placed the seat down and Alice stood on top of the soiled lid. She hoisted her body on to the ledge which was beside the window before attempting to open the glass as quietly as possible. When it didn't budge she tried one more time, this attempt more cacophonous than the last. The door at the end of the washroom creaked and Alice let her body slide down the ledge and back on to the toilet, where she flushed and walked to the sink to wash her hands just as the Hatter walked in to the room.

His arms wrapped around her tiny waist and his face found its way inside of her slightly tangled hair as she turned off the water and wiped her dainty hands on the fabric of her apron. "You're finally mine now Alice, and there is nothing whatsoever that the mean old Batman can do about it. Now, we should continue drinking the tea I made- it's special tea, my special tea." Alice saw his smile in the mirror and smiled back as he held her hand, directing her back to the large room through the same hallways they had followed before. The cracks laughed at her as she continued trying to find a way out of this place- for, what good was escaping if you couldn't really get out? Her priority list currently consisted of living through the current ideal, not making the Hatter's list of least favorable people.

The Hatter opened the door, only to fall flat to the ground immediately. In the room, all of the tea sets were smashed and while some of the rabbit-men struggled against their bonds, they were all still against the large beams in the corners that held up the ceiling. Tweedledee and Tweedledum were throwing an assortment of dynamic punches at a boy dressed in red, black and yellow. His red shirt showed off a yellow 'R' while his short cape covered his face with its hood as he fought off his two attackers with the quarter staff in his hands. It was an effortless dance which caused Alice to stand still and watch until one arm pushed her behind a large body and against a corner so that the Hatter would be unable to take her.

He attempted to throw a few punches at the large, dark figure, only to be held back by a hand as he was thrown to the ground and hand-cuffed. The Mad Hatter cried and struggled, only to eventually give up in a heap of sobs. "You don't understand Batman! I need my Alice, I can't live without my Alice." He sounded pathetic, and with the snot making its way through his nostrils, it might have well have been as he held a stare with the eyes just a few shades brighter than his own.

"Yes, Jervis, because kidnapping young women from their homes in the middle of the night, only to eventually kill them is fair. You don't need anyone, you just need help." Alice's savior- who she knew as Batman- ripped the green hat from the Hatter's head, causing him to wilt in to himself as his bald spot on the top of scalp was revealed. Batman turned to face Alice, seemingly surprised as she calmly stared back before carefully gesturing towards the end of the hall with her right index finger. Robin made his way to stand in front of the Mad Hatter while Batman led her away. "Why can you not talk to me in front of him?" He questioned, eying her suspiciously as she sent a look the way of the Hatter before letting her perfect posture drop and letting her rose-colored lips quiver slightly.

"I would rather not leave him with a negative view of me as his Alice. He would kill me without a second thought if he ever sees me again, and would most-likely not give me a chance to explain or save myself. Pretending to be the Alice he wants helps me around him, so I apologize." Batman nodded, understanding the young girl and her rationalization. He placed a hand on the small of her back before Robin met with them where they stood, where he took her from Batman with a hand around her tiny wrist.

"I'll escort you home and explain to your family what happened." The young man told her and slipped her in to the outside world with him, where police officers from the Gotham City Police Department were already making their way inside of the seemingly abandoned, industrial building- and where news reporters like Vicki Vale and Jack Ryder were stationed. They rushed her and the hooded boy before receiving a glare from the Batman who looked at them before using a grappling hook to find his way on top of a building in the distance. Robin scooped Alice inside of his arms and did the same afterwards, landing them on top of a building much closer, and eventually letting them both inside of a two-door car.

It was silent as he started the car engine and began to drive, but the silence was cut like butter with a hot knife when Alice's musical voice chimed. "We don't need to tell my parents," looking at the moon- still high in the sky- she sighed. "I would hate to bother them as they're most likely still sleeping after a long day at work for the two of them. I'll show you where to drop me off, I know where the spare key is, and I'll attempt to explain things to them in the morning if I get the chance. They both don't have work, and I'm all done school so it will be fine for me." Robin nodded and they continued the drive to her apartment building located at the edge of The Narrows and bordering the actual city of Gotham.

She smiled as she stepped out of the car and ran in to the apartment building which held her parents and older brother from what Robin had found out from the quick information he had been given by Oracle. By living near The Narrows within Gotham, it was no surprise that Jervis had been able to sneak inside of her building and take her while she slept. It was common enough to see the crime lords of Gotham taking young women, so no one paid it any mind. Sighing, Robin continued his drive back to his own home, where he thought about the young, wavy-haired blonde he knew from his past days in school.

It would be in her best interest if she had help in the days to come.


	2. Chapter 2

Throughout the next morning, Alice's parents were too busy with their own flurry of movement to be bothered with her. They spent the morning with their usual attitude- ignoring the short, blonde girl while they cleaned up the small amount of papers that the two of them shared before running out the wooden door with a simple wave of the wrist. The news centered around the girl in the Wonderland costume who got rescued by the Batman and his boy wonder, and Alice was happy to note that no one knew who she was, and any photographers had been too busy taking pictures of the criminals who had kidnapped her and the other women to care about getting any pictures of herself. She took to tidying her house once her parents were sure not to come back to pick up any forgotten items, and eventually changing out of her pajamas which held cartoons and pictures of tiny, black birds and blue clouds.

Standing in front of her mirror, she peeled off the garments she wore and deciding against taking a shower, she pulled out a new pair of underwear and a matching blue bra. Afterward, she pulled a long, green shirt over her head and slipped in to a pair of leggings. With no job of her own, she had been on the lookout for any openings within Gotham City, the trains within the crime-filled city traveled anywhere a person needed to go, so she had a reliable source of transportation. Sighing, she looked over the small apartment she shared with her parents and her older brother who only frequented the house when it helped him- otherwise, when he was able to get money to buy drugs from other people inside of Gotham.

Grabbing some paper towels along with cleaning supplies, Alice got on to her hands and knees and found herself scrubbing the floors of the small apartment to keep out the bugs that found any apartment within the building to be their own commonplace home. Due to Alice's rigorous cleaning upon the house, they had only found small ants- unlike their neighbors who continually complained of roaches and other insects of the same sort. Continuing her scrubbing until she lost track of time, Alice finally stood to her full height to see the floors below her practically sparkling as she praised herself. The clock on the stove told her it was well past noon, but she ignored the grumbling that sounded from her stomach and found herself ignoring its pleas for some sort of sustenance as she knew her parents would be extremely hungry when they got home and would want the food she would have taken had she done what her stomach had asked.

As another grumble sounded, Alice heard the small ding of the dingy buzzer which was right outside the apartment door and carefully made her way towards it. Not being tall enough to look through the peephole that the door had, she opened it to see a delivery man with a hat casting a shadow over his face. He stood tall and proud, and as he towered over the short blonde he handed her a green box that was adorned with a purple bow. Her eyes widened in surprise and a mile made its way on to her face when the man who made the delivery spoke. "Just a little something from a secret admirer, enjoy your day."

She wasn't forced to sign anything, nor to take part in excessive conversation which would have wasted time. Alice was simply given the box and the man ran off. He seemed to giggle but she paid it no mind as she smiled at the small box. "A secret admirer? Who would even think of liking me?" She giggled to herself as she sat on the ground where she stood with the door still open. Slowly, she removed the bow- careful to place it on the ground beside her so that she would be able to use it in her hair or something or another. Afterward, she delicately removed the wrapping paper from the box which fit perfectly inside of her pale hands.

Blue eyes widened as inside the box was a paper riddled with question marks. It was as green as the box and caused her to suddenly drop it to the ground. The Riddler, not the most infamous villain that Gotham contained, but definitely one to watch for if you were an unsuspecting high school girl, or if you were an army veteran. Using smart worded quips, and anxiously written riddles, the Riddler made sure to warn all of his victims of their fates beforehand so that they could possibly avoid the danger. Calling for Batman never did the victim much good as the question marked man always found out, and simply continued with the daunting questions until the person went crazy, died, or went crazy and died. The smartest thing to do after receiving a riddle was to answer it in the way specified on the back of the card received on it.

Painstakingly slowly, Alice read the card aloud, "I am taken from a mine, only to be stuck in a wooden case- yet, everyone seems to us me. What am I?" She thought, his riddles were seemingly easy, but very few were able to solve them besides the Batman. If they were easy, were they meant to be things that you would actually do or use? The blonde played with her long hair, feeling the small ringlets which formed at the bottom where it ended on her back. "What do I use everyday?" Looking around, she thought about what she used in school before the start of summer, and then what she used at home.

She patted down her tights and walked around her small apartment. This riddle was possibly a test to see what she knew, to see if she would be worthy of killing if she wasn't smart enough by the delusional man's standards. A gasp rang from her lips and she looked on the table. Papers, clips, pencils and pens- all things that she and every member of her family would either touch or use at some point during their day. Although lead was no longer used in pencils since the antiquity days, it was mined from the ground and then encased in the wooden bodies that pencils possessed. Lead was the only answer that would fit the riddle, the only one that could make sense.

Practically skipping in her euphoric state, Alice went back to the box, taking out the paper and flipping it to its backside. On the back was a black question mark which gave her the apartment number of someone in her own building- only a floor below. Though no time limit was given the air felt as if it were thick- so she stopped thinking that the riddle had just been a test, and began to think that it was possibly her death prediction. Lead was responsible for lead poisoning, so the Riddler was possibly aiming to poison her and the others on her floor using the vent. Bypassing the elevator, Alice ripped open the metal door at the end of the hall before skipping a few stairs. She danced by a few broken pieces of what she could only guess to be gas and found herself in front of the door to the second floor room, tugging at her green shirt and rubbing her legs together through the fabric of the tights.

The number 221 stared at her as she knocked three times, shifting her eyes down the hall before being dragged inside of the room- hearing a door slam behind her. "Nice to see you again, Alice." The delivery man from before greeted her, only for her to see that he adorned a green suit with purple cuffs and a black question mark on the back. Glasses were now on his face and he was staring through, not at, her. "I'm guessing that you are here to tell me that you forfeit answering my riddle- because it was too much of a challenge for a simpleton like you?"

Alice shyly shook her head before staring up at him from where she stood in front of his door. "The answer is lead." He seemed shocked but shook his head, mumbling about it being an easy question, even for someone as idiotic as her. "Please tell me that you plan to turn off the lead you have coursing through the vents, I know for a fact that there are people with emphysema within the building that could get seriously sick with it in the air."

"When one does not know what it is, it is something; but when one does know what it is, it is something." He spoke the riddle calmly, rubbing his temples slightly with his tattered, purple gloves as she attempted to look at him for some sort of clue- before it occurred to her. Though he spent hours on the riddles he used for Batman, he made ones for his victims on the spot, he used something around them.

Smiling, Alice spoke, "A riddle." She pushed down the giddy feeling building in her gut and she saw him push a button within his hand as she noticed that the air conditioning system within the building stopped. The man in green and purple was practically pulling out his hair while he stared at her, before he began to pat it in to its previously slicked back position. "I'm sorry." The blonde spoke, perceiving his anger was meant for her doing something wrong, as she had felt the way in the past her head was now bowed and she was attempting to hold back tears which had accumulated within the corners of her eyes. It was only the day before that she had encountered the Mad Hatter, and now the master of riddles was hating her for most-likely giving him the wrong answer to his own riddle.

Her blonde hair hung over her face, and through her tights it was fairly visible that goosebumps were forming. She jumped backwards and her back side hit the door as a purple glove ran the length of her leg as the Riddler himself knelt down to meet her knees before blowing on them slightly, the oosbumps growing larger as she felt his warm breath through the somewhat opaque cloth. "Hatter and the others have all been rounded up by the Batman now, I'm the only one from our little breakout group that's still running around free- so Hatter asked a favor of me. There wasn't any lead that I was planning to run through the system, it was just a small sleeping drug that would have caused the tenants within your building to become drowsy so that I could take you. Hatter wants his 'Alice' in a factory somewhere, so that when he plans his break out he can come and get you." He explained, letting a smile build on his lips when he left his crouched position and let his head hang over her. "But, you're not a complete idiot, Alice Wynne- so I suppose I would feel bad giving you up to someone like him."

His fingers ghosted across her pouting lips and he suppressed a groan within his throat. She wasn't exactly smart from what he research showed, she was an unconventional genius- just like him.

"Don't tell anyone about this." He ordered as he pushed her out in to the hallway. "Because, if you do- I'll know. And it won't do you any good, because this isn't my apartment. Mine is in better shape." He slammed the door in her face, and in a small daze, Alice found herself heading back towards her own apartment. Closing the door as she stepped in, she paid no mind to her stomach which still grumbled, and picked up the box on the floor- placing the bow in a drawer in the room that she shared with her brother. The box itself was placed inside of the garbage can in their kitchenette while the riddle was simply thrown out the window so that her parents wouldn't question anything- not that they would in the first place from past experiences of bruises and scrapes.

A small sigh escaped her lips, and she saw the door open after a few hours of simply sitting on the couch. "You need to get a job." Her brown haired brother, Damien, told her as he placed his shoes in a piled by the small closet. "The 'rents and me are always taking the time to make money, and all you do is sit around the house. You're sixteen now- you need a job." He stated, pulling a beer bottle out of the fridge and forcing her shaking body to scoot over on the couch so that he could stretch out his legs and watch some cartoons.

"I understand, Damien, but no one in Gotham is hiring-"

"Besides the asylum. It's no secret that they're so desperate for workers that they'll hire anyone. If you get some consent from our 'rents, I'm sure they'll let you work as something there. They have so many crazies, I'm sure they're always cleaning up. You could be the slutty little maid you are and get on your hands and knees and clean up after old, perverted men!" He laughed to himself as his green eyes eyed her form. "Hah, I'll bring up the idea to the old folks and see if they'll sign some papers- I'll even take you. You can have all summer to work. Maybe they'll even let you sleep there so you won't have to come home? We wouldn't even need the money you made if you found a place to live yourself..." He began to murmur incoherently to himself as his eyes slowly begin to droop. The clock on the stove now read that it was sometime after six in the evening, so her parents would be home soon to wake up their son, and he would tell them his own great idea.

Turning off the television as she heard Damien begin to snore, Alice thought of what had become of her family life since her brother had begun binge drinking and buying drugs. At one point, they had been genuinely fine, but now as she thought of the marks on her back that had not come from her time within the Mad Hatter's care- Alice knew that once things went bad, they did not always get better. Her parents spiraled in to depression and focused solely on their office work at their only and first son's behavior while Alice faded in to the background and begun to focus solely on easy games and reading, her grades dropping but staying high enough for no one to question her.

Knowing that it would need to happen at some point or another, Alice picked up their home phone- dialing the number to the asylum at the end of Gotham- located nearer to The Narrows than she was- which was practically its own small island. "Hello." She said as she heard someone on the other line pick-up. "I was wondering how old you needed to be to work as a housekeeper at the asylum?"

"Oh!" The voice was most definitely surprised from the plausible fact that few people wanted to work at such a place. "Well, we ask that you be eighteen, but with possible parental consent or an independent minor's signature we can let anyone over sixteen work here." She seemed to seriously doubt that a person's parents would be willing to let them work at a place filled to the brim with egomaniacs and psychopaths while they were still a minor.

"I see." Alice said, staring at her brother on the couch. "Well then, would you be willing to mail me the documents that my parents and I need to fill out for you?" There was a hurried 'yes' as Alice told the woman on the other end of the line her apartment's address and she would get her parents to sign off for her when they arrived. The woman gave her a quick set of information on what would happen if she were called in for an interview after applying, and how all Arkham staff were able to sleep in the medical facility beds at any allotted time.

It would do her parents well if she were to stay somewhere else. And, Alice knew for a fact that her parent's would sign for her to live on her own now that she was able to live alone- even in a city as dangerous as Gotham. Alice had saved more than enough in the case her brother's habit would get them in trouble with the mob- but it could surely be used to rent an apartment closely located to the asylum.

"Damien! We're home!" The two lovers known as parents called as the walked in the door, regarding the young girl with a flick of their wrists. "Oh, hello Alice- any interesting news for us?" They seemed to doubt anything until she spoke.

"I'm planning on getting a job and moving out if you two will sign for me?" The smiled with bright teeth and were excited with their daughter for the first time in their lives.


	3. Chapter 3

"Of course, honey!" Her parents cooed, and Damien jumped up from the couch as if he were possessed by some animal. "When will it start, where will you move- oh, this is just so great!" They were grinning at one another and feverishly placing their hands upon their bodies. Damien adjusted himself where he was standing before clearing his throat and pausing their ministrations while Alice kept her stare down by her feet.

"I wasn't serious when I wanted you to leave and go to the crazy house!" The larger boy placed his hands on the blonde's shoulders and dug his fingernails in, causing her to suppress a cry and bite her lip. "You'll get fucking eaten alive, someone will fucking kill you, why must you be such a damn idiot!?" He screamed at her and right before he began to raise his right hand. Within moments of it cutting the air, no resounding slap was heard and the two parents in the room looked in front of them with shock and Alice gasped, widening her blue eyes.

"I came to check up on your daughter," Robin spoke to the two other adults within the room, in a strict, no-nonsense voice. "I wanted to make sure she was alright after her run in with Arkham's most prevalent pedophile and rapist- the Mad Hatter." They showed no shock towards this though, simply looking to her with glaring eyes before turning their attention back on the red, black, and yellow boy. Robin noticed this easily, the eyes shown by his mask flickering to where the small girl stood, now curling and uncurling her toes within her tights as she played with the edge of her long shirt which ended just above her knees.

"Why didn't she tell us? She couldn't have been in too much trouble, could she?" Her mother laughed. "If it was that bad we would have seen it on the news." The older woman played with her own mess of brown curls while the man played with his light brown, wispy locks. They acted as if they knew everything and Alice readied to make the boy leave before anything got out of hand and her brother continued his usual abuse.

"She didn't tell you because you probably wouldn't listen. Now, seeing as she is sixteen, Gotham laws state that she can live on her own with parental consent, but she is able to move in with another adult without parental consent." Robin looked at Alice who now met his brown eyes with her own. "I have a friend that can take you in, and sign for you to work at wherever you were planning on before I came." He told her, waiting for her to take his outstretched glove. She refused however, and left his hand in the air.

"Relying on someone else is not something that I want to do at this time. I appreciate you coming to check on me, but, my parents are right. If I had been hurt, they would have known- I was, and I now am fine. Please leave, in the morning I am having my papers sent to me for them to sign, and I will be free to stay in an extra room where I plan to be working until I have accumulated more funds to live on my own." He stared at her incredulously, and finally obeyed her strong-willed command with a quick look to her brother, who had let his hand drop, and her parents.

"I understand. Trust me to be checking up on you from now on though." And he left in the same way he had came, within the shadows.

"Well, after that fiasco I want you in your room. You said the papers will be here in the morning?" Alice nodded. "Well then, we'll sign what needs to be signed and you will be on your way, with your bags to wherever you want to go. You will no longer speak to us, and you will not have any dealings with us unless we choose for you to- understood?" Her mother gave her no room for argument and Alice agreed, running to her mattress on the floor beside her brother's bed.

She pulled out a suitcase from the corner, and filled it to the brim with any needed toiletries and clothing. It was filled easily and she fell asleep in her corner within a few moments.

In the morning, Alice was awoken by having papers thrown in her face. "They have been signed anywhere they needed to be signed. A taxi is outside waiting for you, and you can sign the rest of the places yourself. Have fun." The woman who Alice regarded as her mother shoved her up and out of the room and in to the hallway where they slammed the door shut. Alice could see out the hallway window that the taxi was patiently waiting for her.

With her papers in hand and her suitcase rolling behind her, she ran down the stairs and cautiously flung herself inside of the car. Handing him a pile of cash, Alice asked the man in the front seat to take her to Arkham Asylum. She sat in the back seat patiently, away from his curious stare and filled out the remainder of the papers she had in her hand. Mentally she thought of the money within her bank account and how much an average worker within the asylum got paid. Sighing, she thought of how long it would take her until she would be able to rent out an apartment near the asylum. Before she was completely aware, she was poised in front of the aforementioned place with her suitcase and papers. So, Alice walked with her head slightly hung even as she tried to look confident through heavy doors.

"Hello." She said as she walked in to the medical facility where a metal detector was beside a secretary's desk. The woman didn't take the time to look up from her paperwork before pointing a manicured finger toward a wall which read: 'All visitors this way' and going back to what she was doing. "Um, no- I'm not a visitor. I have to give you some papers so I can start working." The woman scoffed and finally eyed her with dazzling green eyes, her red hair pulled tightly in to a bun.

"Yes, and I'm the cookie monster. You have to be at least sixteen, parental consent required, and be willing to wear that." She pointed at an older woman in the corner wearing a tight black bodice and a short skirt with tights, along with a pair of mary-jane styled heels. "Go over there kid, and stop bothering me."

Alice sighed, straightening her shoulders. She took the papers she had and slapped them down on the woman's desk before taking a few breaths and beginning to speak. "My papers are signed, I am sixteen, and I called yesterday and I have already been green-lighted to begin working so long as I meet Warden Sharp, thus, my reason of being here this early on a Sunday morning." She eyed Alice warily before waving her through the metal detector where she was searched for anything which could be used to harm, or be harmed.

"Warden Quincy Sharp." A man with a balding head greeted her and started to lead her through a multitude of hallways. "You are here to clean and that is all. You are not to fraternize with any inmates unless cleared by a doctor or a member of security. You may answer some questions from them, but you should know when to stop as common sense. Be careful." And that was all he gave her when she arrived at a room where it said, 'Housekeeper's only' and pushed her inside. Alice was met with a brunette who pushed some clothes into her hands and forced her to get dressed- trying, without any luck, to pull down a short skirt afterward. She handed Alice a cart and a walkie-talkie and told her that she would be contacted, and have to contact others on the walkie-talkie to clean rooms as Alice placed her suitcase in a corner where clothes were piled.

There was no training, due to the quick turnaround on the job of being a housekeeper, but, seeing as Alice was a quick-learner, she was ready.

"Alice to room 110. Patient is currently in treatment" Alice did as she was told and found herself opening the door with a key-card around her neck and opened the door. It was full of Calendar dates and sheets of papers with notes written on them with Batman faces drawn crudely on. All Alice could do was strip the sheets off the bed and remake it, skimming the room for any dangerous items and later organizing the papers by date and placing them in a neat pile by the corner of the room. Alice could only guess that it was an inmate who wrote down the dates of when they were captured by law enforcement or such.

"Interesting." She said, and within a few minutes she was walking out of the room, making sure to close and lock the metal door that separated it from the hallway as she pushed the cart. A map was placed on top of the cart laying out the entire medical facility so that it was easier to navigate. Currently, Alice was situated on the first floor of patients and the second floor of the facility. On the first floor held psychiatrist offices, the medical bay, and the sanitization and metal detector port for visitors, workers and patients. The floors above were filled with patients- Alice's current floor with more patients that were non-violent and less unstable than others. Said patients were classified with numbers one through four while the patients on the floor above were classified from five to six, and above that sevens as they were in the most abundance. And finally, on the highest floor were the most at risk and dangerous patients- many of whom had Gotham questioning their need to be in an asylum in lieu of a coffin- classed from eight to nine.

As Alice was a starting worker, she had been told to deal with the first three floors of the facility and that any other rooms were off limits for the first month of her work. She had been informed that after the month of her 'probationary' work was over, she would be able to move on to higher floors so long as she made sure to be more diligent in her cleaning.

Within her first day, Alice had been fast but thorough in her cleaning of each room she was assigned and had made sure to check for any possible contraband that had not been claimed by the guards which roamed the washed out halls of Arkham. Many others were impressed with her and after being cleared by Quincy Sharp and a man with one prosthetic hand known as Aaron Cash, Alice had moved her suitcase and belongings in to the medical bay where there was an extra bed in the corner. The older woman smiled at her and made sure to tell her how she would, "Make sure the little one's alright." as Alice prepared for sleep after brushing her teeth in the public bathroom down the hall.

Eyelids closed softly over blue orbs as she laid down and cuddled in to the thin blankets which offered her blonde form warmth. Math which had been done inside of her head proved that after making a suitable amount in her one day, she would be in the position to move in to a small, one bedroom apartment within a month of working if she only took one day off a week- in which she could still pick up extra hours to help out in the medical bay where she laid now and helped out with patients.

Alice was ready.


	4. Chapter 4

Unlike the majority of the cleaning staff around Arkham, Alice did not quit within her first week, nor did she even quit within her first month of working. She had actually made it through relatively unscathed, and had not come to clean around any Class 9 patients- those that were thought to be of greater risk than anyone else in the asylum. Due to her being one of the younger workers the blonde would still occasionally clean the offices of the doctors after their own awkward run-ins with differing patients. Now starting her second month, she was already in to the habit of perfecting the rooms before leaving after hearing a woman had left a spray bottle in the Joker's cell and he had almost blinded a guard.

"Alice, to Doctor Gretchen Whistler's office, she's finishing with a patient of hers right now, but by the time you get there, she should be done." Alice replied to the voice on the other side of the walkie-talkie and started to push the squeaky cart down the hallways and in to the elevator to make her way to the first floor of the building where the offices were, below the housekeeping room.

"Hold that elevator!" Alice was surprised to see a guard hurriedly pushing someone chained from head to toe to make it to where she was, letting her finger press a button to keep the doors open a bit longer. The large guard ran in and pushed the man in chains next to her, letting her hear him sniff her deeply. "Thank you so much! They would have killed me, I just got off probation with the other inmates, and then this one runs off and I have to get him, and we're already late- oh, I'm Tommy Armbuster, here and at your service!" He stopped his ramblings and introduced himself to her, readying himself for a handshake before he noticed her almost well hidden attempt at holding a non-frightened look on her face at the man with the prison mask sniffing her hair from where he stood above her.

"You, you're the one that messed up my dates! My oh so important dates! They were laid out the way I wanted them and you just went and put them the way you thought they should be!" The blonde was surprised and attempted to back away from the man in chains. "Oh, but no! It took me so long to put everything together, my parents deaths were next to each other even if their dates were different...but...oh, don't worry. I'll find the perfect date for you and let you and all of the others pay for touching my dates. Maybe some stomach troubles on Valentine's day- oh, I'll mark it down." Alice saw the guard's embarrassment though his guard helmet and saw him direct the patient to the other side of the elevator where Alice's cart was between them. The prisoner was clearly dejected, but stayed still as Tommy pressed the same button that the blonde planned to press herself. He patted her on the shoulder as they reached the floor together and led the patient down the opposite hallway she was planning to go down. Taking her cart, she made her way through the hall and found herself outside of the doctor's room- looking inside and seeing a large, green, scaled man.

The blonde knew this man to be Killer Croc, who was born with a rare mutation that made his skin green and scaly, and which grew his body to grotesque proportions. His name was Waylon Jones and he was raised by an alcoholic aunt and bullied relentlessly for his appearance from what she knew from children at her school. He had briefly worked as a carnival freak under the name Killer Croc, but his misanthropy began to grow just like his own bestial nature, pushing him to a life of crime. Alice believed it was a sad thing to think that the world could be so cruel as to look at a person who was different and not give them a chance at a normal life.

"What's the bitch outside staring at?" The man's voice was loud and menacing as the doctor within the room was forced to stop her own question and look at the young, innocent girl who was staring back at her through the window outside her office. "I mean, I know I'm a fucking hot piece of freak, but seriously?" He was growling louder now, and Alice felt her own ears flush and she ducked her head down so she didn't bother anyone. Guards filled the perimeter of the room with buttons in their hands, which she could only guess were to deal with the collar around his neck.

"I apologize Mr. Jones, it seems that our session may have run longer than we had previously thought. Someone is here to clean this room." The woman said in her slight accent, letting the man growl at her while the guards escorted him out of the room. She regarded Alice as if she were fluff on her dress and stared down at her. "I thought we were improving, but, as you can see in the corner there, there is a mess of papers which I need cleaned before my appointment with another patient in an hour." And the woman left Alice to stare at her back while she cleaned.

Grabbing her garbage bag and tightening her gloves she stared at the mess before her, stopping to think for a moment. "That man was taller than two of me." And continuing her work.

It didn't take her very long, and she had told the voice on the other side and patiently awaited her next task. Her family had not spoken to her since she had left and she was soon to move in to an apartment complex which had been arranged by some outer source she could only believe to be a partner within the asylum- and she had more than enough to pay rent.

"Jervis come back here!" A bald headed man with round glasses that Alice knew as Hugo Strange was chasing after a shorter, balding man who was running towards her where she stood in the elevator. Alice felt her insides turn cold and tried to close the elevator with the button while some of the guards that were around tried to grab him- only to have the Hatter slide underneath their arms and throw his short form against the blonde girl. "Jervis!" Doctor Strange yelled as the doors closed on the two of them. And as the elevator began making its way up, the two were stuck together.

"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Ha ha, she's mine for the asking! I'll sweep her off her feet, treat her to a wonderful night on the town and -oh Alice, I'm so happy we're together!" His hands were all over her, pulling down her tights and running his fingers down her newly showing legs. They reached halfway between the second and third floor of patients when the short man pressed the emergency stop button and pushed Alice's cart away and her body down. She landed heavily and his hands found their way underneath her skirt.

"It's great to see you as well Mr. Hatter, but I don't believe what you are trying to do is completely appropriate." She tried to make her usual soft voice sound more airy and firm as he paused what he was doing for a moment. "I thought you would want to do something like this in Wonderland? This isn't right, I'm not dressed properly Mr. Hatter." She told him and let her hands slowly drag herself away from him in the small area. He was staring at her but letting his eyes flicker down occasionally as he scratched his head and she felt her back press against the wall of buttons.

"I suppose." He said. "Alice, would you like me to make you feel good though, it'll give us both a taste of what Wonderland will be like." The Hatter gave her no chance to answer him before he jumped back on top of her, knocking the breath out of her while he attempted to pull off her shirt and working with his own prison garbs which 'did nothing to show his true self' as he said.

"Stop!" Tears leaked from Alice's eyes as the man on top of her began jumping on top of her so much that her head was now banging against the metal bottom of the room while she attempted but failed miserably to reach for the buttons of the elevator to head back down so that he would go back to what he was doing with Strange. "Hatter! Oh, Hatter! Please stop! I cannot travel to Wonderland with a concussion." The blonde laughed slightly as if it were a joke and his grip on her body loosened.

"Oh Alice!" He said, rubbing his cheek against hers. "I'm so sorry my Alice! I'll make it up to you!" And he cautiously began to unbutton her shirt instead of the previous attempts to rip it off of her. His rough hands rubbed her smaller mounds and he smiled the entire time. Slowly, he lowed his mouth to rest on the pink nub of her breast and she stared up at the camera in the corner in shock. Her hands reached for the buttons again and pressed the ground floor button to get in front of the medical offices.

The Hatter noticed the lurch of where they were and cursed himself before crouching on top of her. She attempted to push him off of her only for him to nip at her neck when the door opened. Guards rushed in with their guns pointed at him but they made no move to fire as the sixteen year old blonde was too close and they couldn't risk hurting her. So, Alice did the only thing she could think of with the man nipping at her neck. The small blonde wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face on top of her own. The Mad Hatter was smiling widely and was beginning to go down to kiss the girl before she threw him off of her and ran in to the arms of the nearest guard while the Hatter cried out for her while he was handcuffed and led in to the basement to solitary confinement near Killer Croc's specialty cell. He cried and whined for the other girl, but eventually gave up and went limp within the guards arms.

"Don't worry my Alice!" He screamed from behind her. "I know you're scared but we'll be safe in Wonderland very soon!" Her arms were rubbed as she fixed her shirt and skirt, leaving her tights on the ground. Pulling her walkie-talkie from the cart she walked away from the group of male guards. "I'll cut open your head open if I have to Alice, don't worry!" A shiver ran up her spine as she pressed the button to call the person who usually gave her directions.

"Alice checking in. The room is cleaned, but a matter came up- give me a while, if possible, before I start working again. I'm taking an early break." The blonde said, gathered her things and pushed her cart down the hallway and in to a nearby closet to put her tights back on and catch her breath. Her knees pulled in to her body and she held them tightly as she stared at her tights which she had haphazardly thrown on to the floor- her breaths were beginning to slow in the same was as her heart as she moved to hold her thumping chest with long fingers. Then, she began the process of fully buttoning her shirt and pulling her tights over her pale, scratched and scraped legs. The Mad Hatter had her in his sights, and she would be lucky if her were to find her less appealing within the near future for her sake- but she felt it within the furthest corners of her mind that it were in her and the majority of Gotham's interest if she were the only one in trouble with the older man.


	5. Chapter 5

"Alice here, I'm ready when you need me." The blonde girl now walked out of the closet, tights on and shirt now fixed around her bosom. A flush was fixed on her face from what the Mad Hatter had done to her just half hour or so before. Her skin felt tight and hot, but she was ready to do her job to the best of her abilities. Alice pushed her cart down the hallway, she knew that quitting because of something like what had happened to her in a place like Gotham would be puerile for someone else as much worse had been faced by many and she did not want to be seen as weak by the majority of the city's populace.

"Ah, Alice." The voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie rang out with its southern drawl. "I apologize for what happened to you, but it's nice to see that you are ready to continue your work. It would be nice for you to know that Jervis Tetch has now been moved to solitary confinement for the next week- due to this, it is the perfect time for you to clean his room after you clean some other rooms on the fourth floor of patients. Please make your way to rooms 401, 410 and 440. One patient is in therapy, one has been terminated, and the last room belongs to Mr. Tetch." Alice did as she was told and made her way to the elevator with shaky legs, and attempted to hold her head high.

When she arrived at the fifth floor of the building the blonde found herself wavering in her spot before making her way to the first room right in front of where the elevator opened. Using her key card she found herself moving inside of a room fitted with an assortment of cobwebs and drawings of moths. "Killer Moth?" Alice whispered to herself as she began to scrub the walls clean of the sketches and used a glove to take down the cobwebs and place them in the garbage bag attached to her cart. She moved to clean the bathroom and then stripped the bed of its sticky sheets and replaced it with new, clean ones.

Leaving the room, she shut the door behind her and did the same thing to room 410, only, instead of cleaning cobwebs, she was stuck waiting for a hazmat suit and cleaning fecal matter and helping another staff member to remove the actual mattress from the room and then replacing it. Finally, she found herself in front of room 440 and heard a scoff behind her.

"Tetch would hate to here that his room's been tampered with while he's gone. He always finds the one that's unlucky enough to clean it, spouts nonsense about how 'his Alice would hate to see his Wonderland different than how it should be', really bothersome to hear during the nighttime when I'm attempting to get to sleep." Alice looked across from the room and saw a man sitting upright on his bed from between the metal bars. He looked proud, his icy blue eyes sparkling in the darker atmosphere that Arkham was surrounded in. His body was lanky and Alice knew quickly who he was after he asked her his own famous question, "Tell me, little girl, do you have any fears? It's best to talk about them with a professional." Alice felt her shoulders stiffen as she ignored him and opened and closed the door to the room behind her.

It looked exactly how she would have pictured it. There were soft, plush tea cups so that the Hatter would be unable to harm himself within the room- all scattered about on the floor. His walls were painted an unusual blue color that came close to matching Alice's own eyes and written in what she could only imagine to be blood were quotes from Lewis Carroll's most famous creation.

She carefully scrubbed the walls clean of the grimy words and sentences. Her breath hitched in her throat as she came across something peaking out from underneath the bed. The blonde got down on her knees and began reaching for the white item. Pulling it up in between her long, pale fingers, she saw that it was a simple card with the measurement of '10/6' etched on to it. Placing it in the pocket of her skirt to report it later on. After checking underneath the bed for anything else, Alice arranged the plush tea toys carefully in the corner of the room beside the opening to the toilet and sink all patients had.

Opening the door and placing all of her items in the cart she had, she looked across from her and saw the man from before staring at her with the same icy blue eyes from before. "I see that you cleaned. I don't believe that a patient like Jervis will be very happy to see that his only connection to his own hallucinative means of coping with what he goes through has been tampered with." He clicked his tongue and the hair on Alice's neck stood up at full attention. "Personally, I don't understand what such a smart man would find so interesting about a not-so-well written story. It makes no sense." He murmured towards her, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as it looked as if it had not been shaven in a long time.

Alice huffed and the man threw his eyes towards her through the bars that acted like a window in his door. The blonde patted down her puffy, black skirt before staring back at him, her lip between her teeth. "It's a complete work of art if you have the imagination to place yourself within the story. It's not my fault you're too high and mighty with your educational stand point to possibly think less." He was angered by what she said and attempted to throw himself against his door- knocking Alice on her bottom from the sound, and falling backwards a bit himself. He scoffed and she began to reach for her walkie-talkie.

"Words like that from a little girl," He smirked for a moment. "I find it hilarious to think about the noises you'll make for me when you begin to scream from your fears. Scarecrows are particularly terrifying during the late hours of night." The man continued and Alice felt her eyes widen as she remembered who this man was. The Scarecrow, Jonathan Crane- a once renowned professor at Gotham university as well as psychiatrist who had an obsession with fear. He was by far one of the more attractive people within the facility, from what Alice could tell, even though he was on the skinny side, she could see that his arms were slightly muscled.

Holding her walkie-talkie to her mouth, Alice told the person on the other side that she had finished cleaning the rooms, only to be told that she was done until her next shift the next morning. There was no reason for her to head to her new apartment, so she decided to head down to the medical bay and catch a nap before a snack time the asylum held within the cafeteria. Then, she would go back to sleep in her claimed bed with a free meal in her stomach.

Laying down on the cot she smiled at the nurse who was stitching closed a wound one a man's arm before letting her eyes close softly and falling asleep.

"Alice..." She was woken up with an arm on her shoulder and saw the smiling nurse staring down at her. "The meals are ready, I figured you would want to know before you found yourself too deep in your sleep." Alice smiled at the older woman and swung her legs over the cot, itching her tight-clad ankles and brushing through her hair with her nimble fingers. Wiping the sand that had accumulated at the corner of her eyes, she made her way through the medical facility, past the metal detector and out in to the corridor.

Alice slowly dragged her feet up the stairs that landed just beside the patient's cells, where the full glassed room greeted her with malicious smiles of patients and doctors within. Making her way toward the trays of food, she grabbed one for herself and a juice box. Deciding to sit at a table where one doctor sat alone, muttering quietly to himself. She smiled and he simply looked up with glazed eyes, introducing himself as Dr. Combs. He went back to staring at his wringing hands- looking around him every few seconds.

Alice calmly ate the peas, potatoes and thin slices of ham on her plate before returning the tray to rest on top of a garbage can and readying herself to leave the large room after popping a few, small grapes in her mouth.

"Alice!" A male's voice called behind her and she turned to see a man in a doctor's uniform who she knew as Dr. Kellerman running towards her with two trays of food balanced in his hands. He was visibly sweating and she stopped in her tracks, turning to smile at him. She stared in to his eyes with questioning ones of her own. "I need to bring these trays to some patients but I have an interview scheduled with another patient at this time. No one else wants to and I really need someone to deliver these to Jonathan Crane and Victor Zsasz. You don't have to talk to them, you just have to push the trays underneath the small slit in the bottom of their doors. Please be careful." He warned, before shoving both trays in to her unsteady arms and running off- not waiting for any possible form of protest from the teenager.

Sighing, Alice made her way in to an elevator and found herself in the third floor of patients. The men's rooms were written on the trays and she stopped in front of Victor's room first. She knew to stay far from him as it was he who had fallen from being one of Gotham's middle-class business owner's to a killer who tried to take out 'zombies', those who lived with no purpose. He posed said 'zombies' in a way that they were positioned to fully live their lives properly in the realm of death. His pale body was covered in tick marks to keep track of every person who was eventually released from the world.

"Hello?" She called as she stood in front of the metal door. Victor came to stand in front of the bars, staring at her face for a long moment before inclining his head towards the tray balanced in her right arm. She smiled and pushed it partially through the slit inside of the door. He pulled it the rest of the way through, standing up with it in his arms the same way she now held Crane's tray.

"You're going to be a mark right here." He pointed towards a place on his neck while he stared through her. His laughing then followed her as she hopped down the hallway as fast as humanly possible to get to Crane's room with his food in her hands. She found herself in front of the door within a few minutes, breathing heavily before letting their blue eyes lock on one another.

She stiffened and as if she were glass annealing, he breathed out, her face now near his cell where her began to drop down and her body visibly relaxed. "Nice to see you once again." He said offhandedly as she placed the tray halfway through the porthole in the door. "While your here, would you like to entertain me?" His voice was lower once again and he smiled charismatically as he stared- letting his eyes rake over her body. She was tense once again until he began to steadily breathe, letting out a small chuckle as Alice shook her head and ran to the elevator.

His smile widened as he stared at the cologne bottle he had smuggled in to his cell.

"See you soon." He called as she disappeared.


	6. Chapter 6

"I am the bandit. He is merely the cave in which I shelter." A deep voice broke Alice from her sleep as she turned on her side on the cot and saw Edward Nigma himself standing beside her- staring at the doorway where she saw the older woman who ran the medical bay. She was staring wide-eyed, too immersed in her fear of the man beside Alice to notice the man with the makeshift burlap mask standing behind her. Alice opened her mouth to scream only to have the Riddler push her shoulders down and cover her mouth with his hand while the older woman was seemingly struck with a debilitating disease. Her mouth stretched over her teeth and Alice saw her bite the inside of her cheek, suppressing a scream.

The man with the burlap mask was laughing as she turned and showed the needle that was stuck between her shoulder blades. Alice's eyes held nothing but fear and the woman knocked over the gauze and bandages that were laid out on the table. Brown eyes bulged and finally she let out an ear piercing scream so loud that Alice forced the Riddler to roll off of her body while she covered her ears. The Riddler mirrored her action and scowled at the man with the false face. Finally, the screaming subsided and Alice saw that the woman was on the ground, her chest struggling to move up and down while her eyes were clenched shut and her mouth was open.

"I gave her a hint that it was you." The man with the green blazer said to the man standing by the door. In his arms were a pair of tailored pants and a dress shirt. Slowly, moving away from the woman- the man with the mask pulled it off of his face, his blue eyes staring straight in to Alice's eyes. Readying a second needle to stick in to her, only to have the Riddler stop the Scarecrow in his tracks. "No, no, no- dear Alice here is mine for the taking." He smiled, watching the young girl move her hands from her ears as he patted her atop the head. His nose found itself in her hair and she attempted to sit up from her uncomfortable position.

"Is my apartment up to my standards?" Crane asked, now in control of the other person inside of his head. Alice was shaking as the Riddler played with her blonde locks of hair. The darker-haired man of the two was staring at the other as he began pulling at the jumpsuit he wore. Eventually stepping out of it in such a graceful manner that Alice attempted to hide her blush while she admired his slow and precise movements. Finally, after pulling on the clothing he had been given, and lacing a pair of dress shoes- he eyes the Riddler once again.

"Yes, yes- I've kept it in tip top shape. Though, I don't know why you don't just join me in my warehouse. Much roomier- much more intact if I do say so." He eyed Alice for a moment before he began speaking towards her. "I like to keep things much more classy."Crane scoffed at this, and without a word, moved towards the pockets of the Riddler- pulling out some keys and moving towards the door. He pushed the woman who had laid long forgotten in to a corner and regarded the other man with no care.

"Whatever you say, Nigma. I apologize for my need to stay inconspicuous while I work on my new mix." Then, he walked out of the room and in to the loud, bustling hallway. He slipped past doctors, nurses and guards alike. Alice saw through the window that he was picked up by someone right outside the doors and off without a trace. Edward Nigma on the other hand, was content with his nose in her hair and his hand moving towards the mounds on her chest. She struggled to breathe in when he reached the pink nub underneath her clothing and he pinched lightly.

Finally, without holding anything back, she pushed him off of her. Running for the door, she was tripped by the outstretched hand of the woman. She was crying for help and Alice gave her an ashamed look before racing to open the door. Edward was on her within a few seconds though and his hands were wrestling with the buttons which held her blouse together. Hair which she had previously thought to be a dark brown was really an array of brown, gold and red mixed together in the small light that shone through the window.

"Riddler." A deep voice stopped the tall man from what he was doing and his eyes locked with those that belonged to Robin himself. "I suggest you get off of the underage girl and come here before things get ugly." The younger of the two men warned- readying a staff that he held in his hands while Alice whimpered at the tightening around her body. Robin visibly stiffened and Alice pleaded at him with her eyes.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Robin placed a well aimed poke at the Riddler's face. A snap was heard and blood rushed on to Alice, staining her hair red. The man of riddles cursed and let go of her- holding his nose in his hand while he grabbed his own cane in the corner- the question mark that acted as a handle letting out a small click to signify a button being pushed and a barrel appeared at the bottom of the cane. He aimed it toward Robin's chest but his yell cut in before the shot rang.

Shard of glass cut in to his skin and he was cursing loudly as Batman hit him in the back of the head with his own cane and threw it to the other side of the small nurse's station. Gripping the Riddler's arms tightly, he placed them in handcuffs and pulled him to his feet- starting the interrogation quickly. "Where's Crane, Nigma?" He yelled in his face, growing annoyed as the Riddler simply shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "Tell me!" Batman pulled the man by his collar and the lanky man could be seen gasping for the air which was stolen from his lungs before he was pushed out of the door and in to a guard's arms- led back to his previous cell.

Batman then made his way to the woman on the ground, injecting a liquid substance in to her neck through a needle and rubbing small circles on her back while her eyes opened. More guards appeared- eying Batman and Robin gratefully as they helped the woman to her feet. Alice was frozen in her spot until a tug was felt on her sleeve, where Robin stood smiling.

"Are you okay?" He questioned the blonde- letting his hands run up and down the length of her arms while she took a few, deep, calming breaths. After a few moments of standing, her legs wobbled and she nodded. "I suppose you may take my earlier suggestion of simply living with a friend of mine?" To this she shook her head and pushed him away- catching him off guard as he moved a few steps away from the smaller girl.

"Th-thank you." She stuttered as she stared at the masked vigilante and his partner- who, as far as she knew, no longer traveled with the red-headed Batgirl who she had only seen in articles covered by Vicki Vale. Alice took a deep breath and continued what she was saying. "I cannot thank you enough for saving me, but I have the means to support myself and I refuse to let this incident deter me from my job. One rogue out to kill me and two others knowing who I am is nothing compared to what the majority of Gotham citizens are faced with everyday. I refuse to quit this job- I am stronger than what you or my parents may think..." Her blue eyes were on the ground for a while before Batman finally nodded at Robin and then her.

"I see." His deep, raspy voice commented. "I wish you good luck then- but, in any case, my friend- Bruce Wayne will be available for call at this number...and Commissioner Gordon has been called here and will most likely have a few questions for you and your co-worker here." After handing her a card with Bruce Wayne's number written crudely on it, Alice saw the older woman stand up grasping her head in her frail hands. She was looking around wildly before moving to hug Batman with all of her might- only to have him dodge her arms and for the two saviors to jump out of the window and disappear in to the night.

Commissioner Gordon spared no questions that night, and by the time he was finished, Alice had called in to the asylum to take the following two days off after her encounters with three of Gotham's famed rogues. They agreed to this and she found herself sitting on her apartment's couch quietly. A knocking was heard from her door and she looked through the peephole warily- opening it to see Robin.

"Nice to see you do know how to use a door." She commented- earning a laugh from the boy wonder before she showed him inside. Locking the door behind him as he made himself comfortable on her couch. "What do you need?" The blonde asked, watching the masked boy flip through the few channels she had on her small television that she had bought with her first week's paycheck. Eventually, he stopped on the late night news report and looked up at her from where he sat- patting the spot next to him.

"I just came to see how you were doing." Robin stated as he moved an arm to rest around her shoulders, surrounding her much smaller body in his warmth. "I wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday's events." The blush on her face grew and she was unable to give him any answer besides a nod and a smile. His arm did not move from its place and together they began to pay attention to what was playing on the television.

"Today it is apparent that Jonathan Crane- also known as the Scarecrow- has officially escaped from Arkham Asylum after somehow poisoning a doctor with his fear gas. The doctor is now in intensive treatment at the hospital, and he is not expected to recover from the injuries afflicted on his person anytime within the near future any time soon." The blonde woman who all residents of Gotham knew as Vicki Vale paused for a moment before continuing. "If you see or come in to contact with Jonathan Crane within the future, we ask that you do not approach him and that you call the authorities immediately. He is deemed extremely dangerous. This is Vicki Vale, for Gotham Nightliner." The screen then cut to the two news anchors inside of the building who began to talk about a mysterious red blur saving innocent children in Central City.

"Interesting." Robin commented as he once again changed the channel- this time deciding on a cartoon feeling movie where a bunch of men attempted to rope a girl in to a variety of hair-brained schemes. Robin let a smile rest on his lips while Alice let out an occasional giggle. Their seating arrangement did not change for a full hour- until the end of the movie when the heroine found herself left to choose between all of the males, fading to black and leaving the viewer to decide who she would end up with.

A ring sounded in the small apartment and Alice saw Robin cursing to himself as he pulled out a device from the belt around his waist area. In hushed tones he seemed to argue with whoever was on the other end before opening a window.

Alice watched as he held up two fingers as a sign of good-bye. "I'll check up on you sometime soon." Robin said, before jumping off of the window sill and down in to the streets below. Alice smiled and forgetting to close the open window- she made her way to the bedroom which was beside her kitchen. She plopped in to the bed with a sigh, and fell asleep easily with not a care in the world while her body sank down on the soft mattress beneath her fingertips.


	7. Chapter 7

The first day of the swiftly planned break went by without a hitch- Robin visiting once to spend time with the blonde and sat with her on the couch. He was caring and as she woke up the second morning, her pale face was still flushed red and warm to the touch. It was blatantly obvious that the girl had feelings for the young man that went past friendship- but, she had no idea who he was beneath the mask, so she was unable to really come to terms with the feelings she held for him.

Sighing, the blonde got off of the couch she was lying on. The television was on and forgotten as the soles of her feet padded toward the kitchenette within the apartment. Fixing herself on a stool, long legs crossed over one another as the girl reached for a banana in the fruit bowl. Peeling back the banana skin she pushed it past her lips- licking the tip that entered her moist cavern before biting down. She moaned a bit as the sweet goodness made its way down her throat. Motions continued such a way for just over a minute until a cough broke Alice from the service she was essentially providing towards the fruit.

Blushing, she turned around in the stool she sat on and saw her object of affection standing in front of her window; holding a gloved hand over his crotch area while she rushed to her feet and threw the peel in the garbage can located underneath her sink. Blue eyes stayed focused on the floor below and after a few awkward moments between the two young adults, Robin made his way towards her with a shaky breath and handed her a sheet of paper. Opening the folded composition, Alice saw that it was an invitation to a party being held at the Wayne Manor in the evening.

Robin shyly began to speak- avoiding her questioning eyes in fear that he would have to cover his crotch area once again. "Someone I saved in the past was talking about you a few nights ago- and he's going to be there- so I figured that the two of you would get along." Seeing her nod from the corner of his eye he continued. "His name's Tim- uh, Tim Drake." She looked as if she were thinking for a moment, before playing with the paper between her fingertips and smiling at the boy in the room.

"He went to school with me- I believe that he graduated last year?" Her gentle voice inquired as she seemed to rack her brain for answers before letting her pink lips curve upwards and beaming at the much taller male. "Well... he is quite cute. So- I'll make my way to the manor tonight." Alice told Robin and he smiled himself as he dug in to her fridge and happily began eating from a bowl of grapes- all of the previous awkwardness between the two of them now gone as he slipped the purple spheres in to his mouth. After eating three, he closed the fridge and sat on the windowsill- smiling at Alice as he flipped backwards and in to the sunlit city of Gotham.

Seeing that the card had stated that the party would not start until it was already dark. So, seeing as she had a few hours before she even needed to get ready- Alice slipped in to where her bed was and grabbing a pair of gray sweatpants from the drawer. Forgoing underwear she also pulled a baggy, green sweater over her body. Racing to the door, she pulled on a pair of comfy running shoes and began her walk to the corner store at the end of the street. She had a hankering for brownies and she was a horrible baker.

Alice easily made her way to the small shop at the end of the block and walked in. The shop smelled of everything a person would need throughout the day, from sandwiches to gas. Though not the most amazing array of scents- it was nice when Alice was able to grab the premade and packaged brownies at the end of the store.

After paying for them, she ate them on the way back to her apartment, spending a few hours watching television, Alice began to finally get ready. Stepping out of the shower, she towel dried her hair and played with the bottom using nimble fingers. Curls began to cascade to the small of her back and she was smiling as she stepped in to a short, blue baby doll dress. Taking to wearing tights underneath, the blonde pulled over a gray knit cardigan and called a taxi to drive her towards the large manor at the edge of Gotham- partially inside of the row of trees that surrounded the edge of the city. Looking at the clock placed on the dashboard and placing money in the driver's outstretched hand, she saw that she was five minutes early and the party had apparently already started.

Her hands rapped on the door and it was opened by a balding, older man wearing a tuxedo. He eyed her for a moment before questioning her. "Name?" He asked and pulled out a clipboard with a list attached to it from underneath a cloth he had swung over his arm. Though, right as she was about to say who she was- a young boy she knew as Tim Drake patted him on the shoulder and grabbed her by the hand, twisting with her through the throng of bodes positioned around the large room they found themselves in. His hands immediately found themselves on her waist as she smiled up at him.

Hair shaven and stubble not to be seen, Tim was cautious with where he put his hands and he made Alice giggle with well thought out jokes spoken in to her flushing ears. Alice's giggles made his own ears turn red but he hid it better than the slightly younger girl in his arms. Her head came to rest on his chest as they swung with the others that had come to join around them.

Hours passed like this and they were finally broken apart by a cough from the stage. Bruce Wayne stood proudly with a microphone, addressing his guests. "I appreciate that you have all come here tonight to celebrate with me- though, I don't have much of a reason for this." The tall, dark haired man laughed softly while others joined him. "But, I would like to announce that I plan to donate money to both Arkham Asylum and the Gotham City Police Department for the hard work they have ahead of them to put Jonathan Crane back in to custody." Everyone in the room applauded him as Tim threw a halfhearted clap out and Alice smiled, wringing her hands behind her back.

The music from before began again and Tim was the first to drag Alice back to dancing. They twirled and spun until the end of the night. Party goers began to slip out from the door and Alice smiled at Tim as she pulled away from him; with pale hands placed on his broad shoulders and his arms hanging around her small waist. The heat between their gazes was there and finally Alice pulled away from his grip and smiled at him.

"Thank you Tim." She said, seeing his gaze light up as he smiled at her. "But, seeing as everyone else is leaving- I need to call a taxi to pick me up." Blonde hair made a pirouette around her form while she turned to make her way to the large pair of gothic looking doors. However, she was stopped by a strong grip on her wrist as Tim made her follow him toward a garage.

"I can give you a ride home instead." He told her as they stood in front of a bike. Laughing at her bewildered look, Tim pulled out a helmet from the box hidden underneath the seat and placed it on her head. Her baby blue eyes were hidden from his gaze after that and he pulled on his own helmet. He sat down and she had to pull up the bottom of her dress slightly as she swung a leg over the bike and wrapped her arms around his middle section. Pressing a button on the middle of the handlebars, the garage door opened and Tim sped off in to the night with Alice terrified and clinging to him.

Tim did not take her to her apartment complex right away, he stopped at a nearby fountain and got off the bike. Helping Alice they both took off their helmets and even though her hair was tousled and thrown around her, her blue eyes were glistening at the sight of the spewing fountain in front of the two. Slowly, Tim's arm began to slide around her shoulders as she leaned in to his body heat- enjoying the view of the sparkling water in front of them.

His chest pounded and her cheeks began to blush as Tim leaned in to the small blonde. Their lips were close and after a deep breath from both of them- he leaned in for the kill. At first, his mouth was gently on hers, then it began to move, finally consuming all of her thoughts. Alice was fighting to suck in breath through her nose as their lips began to dance together in a flurry of unadulterated lust between the two teenagers. Tim's hands found their way to rest on Alice's small face and her moist cavern opened for his tongue.

She stopped him though, by pushing him away. Her red blush still spread across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose as she sighed. "I'm sorry." Seeing Tim's quizzical look she frowned and shivered at the night's cold air. "I-I can't do that with you when I-I, well, when I like someone else. It's rude and I'm extremely sorry." Her head was down now and Tim was trying to still his shaking shoulders. Ever since she had been kidnapped by the Mad Hatter he had kept tabs on her- even while he was in school he made sure that she was not approached by boys by making sure that they found other girls more attractive through his own underhanded tactics at times.

"Who?" Tim asked as they stepped away from each other. "Who is it that you're so interested in?" He saw her shake her head and he placed his helmet back on his head while she put hers back on as well. They arrived in front of the apartment complex with no words spoken between them and when Alice got off of the motorcycle and handed him her helmet the boy heard her whisper something as she ran off.

"I have feelings for Robin.." And Tim's smile from before was nowhere near as large as the one he wore now. He sped off just as Alice stepped inside of her apartment- locking the door behind her and quickly brushing her teeth before falling on to her couch as she stared at the clock above her television set.

The curvy blonde used her remote to turn on the television and spent a few hours watching the Gotham news until sleep overcame her body and her eyelids drooped.

Blue eyes were wretched open however when a gloved hand made its way down her uncovered arms and she heard a breath shiver between the person before her as it passed through their lips. Looking directly in front of her she saw Robin staring down at her with a purely lust-filled gaze. He was leaning over her, now seeing that she was awake and she watched as he placed his staff on the floor below them and climbed on top of her. His lips made their way to her neck and began to bite and suck as she held back a moan. The caps of his teeth raked down her neck, leaving trails of red and she let out a small purr in the back of her throat which sent Robin over the edge. He smiled when he felt her body writhe beneath his own and as his gloved hand began its descent towards her more private area, she froze in his arms.

"Is something wrong?" He asked as she battled to fill her lungs with air- shaking her head. Robin noticed how she was uncomfortable in their current position however and rolled off of her with a reluctant scowl. "Tell me." He ordered and saw her attempt to fix her ripped tights, only to pull them off when she saw he was not looking directly at him and fixed her blue dress.

"I-I just..." Alice stopped to think about what she was saying. "I don't even know who you are, and I'm so attracted to you! But... I can't do that.. not yet..." Robin stared down at her through the eye holes in his mask and smiled at her. Carefully he sat himself down on her couch uncomfortably because of the bulge between his legs but held her close to him with his arm as his eyes focused solely on the news that spoke of a cat that was saved in Keystone City before going on about how Bruce Wayne had donated a large, excessive amount of money once again.

"I understand." Robin told Alice, letting her head rest on his shoulder as she fell back asleep and he sighed. "Damn the Batman family rules to Hell."

During this time however, Alice was quite awake- unbeknownst to him- because she knew his voice was familiar.


	8. Chapter 8

Alice was careful within the following days and took to enjoying the time she spent with Tim/Robin during their designated times. Tim would spend time with her during the day- and when the blonde knew he went on patrol as Robin, though he still had no idea about her knowing he was the boy wonder- and would show up at her apartment at different hours of the nighttime adorning his red, black and yellow costume. Occasionally he would cuddle on the couch with her until she fell asleep, while other times they would stay up and watch movies.

The small blonde was able to get back to work after the two day break without much complaint, letting three weeks pass by quickly and now was on her hands in knees cleaning up a stopped elevator on the second level of patients. A Class 4 patient had attacked his guard and had left a trail of blood and ripped clothing that made its way from the elevator and then continued down the hallway that therapy sessions took place in. People had been talking lately and as Jonathan Crane was still yet to be found, and the Joker had been in and out of the asylum more than ever before- doctors and security guards alike were on their toes waiting for the Gotham City Police Department or Batman to bring in the two criminals.

It was rumored that Batman was working with Dr. Stephen Keller as he was to be Crane's new psychiatrist when he was back in custody, and the man of the dark and the doctor were going to find out what had caused Dr. Combs to now reside in the regional hospital constantly muttering about his wife and clawing at his eyes. Crane had been on the run since she had last seen him, and she was no longer around Class 9 patients by request of Doctor Strange and was only around near their rooms if accompanied by a Doctor who needed her help cleaning a room once a therapy session was finished.

After finishing cleaning the elevator, she wiped the sweat that had accumulated on her brow and pushed the button to go down to where the rest of the mess was. She was standing with her cart for a few seconds before pushing the button once again. Alice found that it didn't work and pulled out her walkie-talkie to ask what was happening, but was given an explanation by the southern voice that usually told her where to clean.

"Sorry to say, Alice, but you're stuck in that elevator. Jonathan Crane had just been apprehended and is being escorted in to the building. They found him in an apartment building by The Narrows and Batman is bringing him back to the Asylum right now. You'll be in there for around ten minutes, then after Crane is back in his cell you will be able to get back to work. I'll tell you when the elevator will work for you in a little bit." The southern voice drawled on for a while, explaining more about the lock down protocol for a minute, before doing the same thing on the announcement system that was set up around the asylum.

The frail girl moved her cart and the dirty laundry cloths that she had built up cleaning the enclosed space to the corner. She sat in the other corner and sat down with her tight-clad knees towards her torso with her pale arms. Ten minutes passed by, and Alice had still heard nothing from the woman on the other side of her walkie-talkie and was now beginning to get a little impatient.

Without warning, however, the elevator lurched and Alice fell forward. Her arms came out from around her legs and held her palms out to catch the weight of her body as she fell forward. The elevator made its way down and the door opened to show the hallway already cleaned to a glistening white, but looming in front of her stood two security guards, Batman and Jonathan Crane himself. Crane was wearing a mask to keep him from doing anything drastic and was chained from head to toe, but still looked absolutely menacing as he glowered down at the teenager.

Alice struggled to stand up, but was to her feet in seconds, pushing her cart out and dodging past the four men. Her face was blushing and she didn't hear what had been said, but from the slap that sounded, she could only guess that Crane had said something unbecoming.

The hours passed by after that with no large incidents around the asylum. Alice cleaned the rooms that therapy took place in and by the end of her shift she was struggling to stand on her two feet. She contemplated staying the night in the medical ward, but had decided against it as she was hoping that Tim- Robin- would pop in to her house, and that she would possibly get to question him and get him to admit his identity to her so that she wouldn't have to keep talking about her feelings to each of his alter egos.

The blonde dragged her feet to the cafeteria- waiting for a taxi to pick her up and take her home. She was no longer in her uniform and now wore her tights from before underneath a long blue shirt with one black bird in the middle of it, just below her chest. A pair of flats struggled to stay on her dainty feet as she went inside of the cafeteria and grabbed strawberry milk, a sandwich and a few blueberries.

She thought about sitting down at a table for a moment, and was about to decide against it before her practically cadaverous arm was squished between a gloved hand and she was thrown in to a seat. A guard had roughly guided her around the room and now left her sitting across from Jervis Tetch and his psychiatrist, Doctor Strange.

The doctor smiled at her and Jervis was struggling to hold himself back as he shook where he sat. Alice stared at the man before the doctor's stare let her know that she would be fine and she made herself more comfortable by crossing her right leg over her left. Jervis stared at her with hooded eyes and he was breathing heavily through his mouth. Alice shivered and ate her sandwich first before drinking her strawberry milk- staring at Jervis and Strange with her blue eyes.

"I'm sorry to make you sit here but Mr. Tetch has been on very good behavior for the past few weeks and I promised that I would reward him." He had a glint behind his glasses and as he sent her a smile, Jervis attempted to reach for her and grab her. She slid down her seat away from him however and saw as Strange placed a hand on his shoulder and he calmed down. The blonde finished her milk quickly, and picked up her blueberries in their container as she saw the taxi pull in to the driveway of the asylum from the window located across the room.

"I see. I apologize for having to leave then." Alice smiled at Strange before addressing the Hatter. "I hope that you enjoy your own meal, Mr. Hatter, and I hope that you continue to be on your best behavior." Jervis attempted to reach for his Alice but was held down by the doctor as she scuttled across the room and out the doors.

Her knees were shaking and she struggled to close the door of the car properly, before directing the driver to her apartment and giving him the cash that was needed for the ride. He was about to ask her what was wrong but she flung open the door and slammed it shut as she ran to her door.

The stairs were practically flown over and when she opened the door with her key she was surprised to see Tim dressed fully as Robin, sitting on her couch with a dazzling smile. "Batman told me how you got to see Crane today." He told her and watched as she nodded. "He said Crane said some pretty gross things about you- did you hear?"

This time she shook her head. "I heard someone hit him, but I didn't hear what he said because I was too busy running away with my cart." Alice played with her long blonde locks, the blueberries were in her hands and she made her way to sit by Robin on the couch, turning on the television set that was in front of her with the remote.

Robin made himself more comfortable beside her, moving his arm around her shoulder as Alice began to pop blueberries through the hole created by her lips. A few times as they watched the night time news, her fingers brushed against her tongue as it darted out- and Tim, dressed as Robin, couldn't help himself.

"I want to tell you who I am." He said, staring at her through his mask. "But, I'm not sure if it would be smart on my part." Alice simply stared at him with her large, doe-like eyes. Her hands were now playing with the end of her hair while the rest of the blueberries sat on her lap- forgotten. She bit her lip and he almost went over the edge.

"You're a person who dresses up and runs around with a man who has built his costume after a bat. Whether you tell me or not, I'll still think you're crazy." She giggled as he joined her with his own hearty laugh. "Plus, I'm sort of smart- how do you know I don't know who you are?" She was attempting to hint something, but at the startled look on his face she played it off with some more giggles on her part, seeing his shoulders lower.

"Well, uh, you see-" He was cut off by a pounding at the door and Alice sighed as she cautiously moved off of the couch and placed her blueberries on the table. Robin moved to stand in the corner of the room, within the shadows so that no one would see him if they were to walk in. Alice peeked through the peephole and visibly began to shake. Tim struggled to stay in his place and watched as she unlocked the lock on the wooden door that held back whoever was on the other side.

"Hello." She greeted as she opened the door slightly. The blonde was however pushed backwards and Tim struggled to not immediately go to her aid as he saw her older brother walk in.

"It's been over two months. You didn't come crawling back you little bitch." The brunette known as Damien placed a finger on her shoulder and pushed her back. "Without you there, the 'rents have nothing to do besides work, and since they can't bother anyone- they refuse to give me money and I have nothing to put our my frustrations on." Damien was struggling with clenched teeth at her, wanting to wring her neck where she stood.

"Mom told me not to come back or call." She whispered, laying with the edge of her shirt as Damien stared back at her.

His hand raised and she flinched before he let it drop to his side, Tim was crouched in the corner- readying himself to jump out and save Alice. "Tch," he growled out through grinding teeth, "doesn't matter. I need you there if I want money- but, I found someone to work for. Notice the clothes?" He watched as he gaze dropped to the suit that he was wearing, and noticed that he had an eye patch around his head, but not placed directly on his eye.

"Why are you dressed like that?" She questioned and watched as he waved a small pocket watch in front of her eyes- pulling it away and placing it inside of his jean pocket as his younger, blonde sister stared at him with wide eyes.

"I'm the Knave of Hearts- and I'm simply here to tell you, as your brother, that the Mad Hatter has plans for you in the next little while." He smirked, and as he patted the top of her head, he stared at Robin in the corner. "Put your dog on a leash, I just do what I'm asked. I'm not being paid right now to kidnap you. I'm paid to give you information. Just make sure to ready yourself for what is to come in the coming weeks." Before Robin could catch Damien, he strutted out the door.

"Well, I guess you don't want to tell me who you are now?" Alice questioned as Tim jumped out her window to, no doubt, tell Batman of what he had seen. She sighed and did not bother to turn off her television as she brushed her teeth and fell asleep on her bed.


	9. Chapter 9

Days passed by quickly, turning in to weeks and eventually a month had passed by for the blonde with no interesting occurrings on her part. Tim had, however, neglected to visit or text her during the time- which caused Alice to guess that he was busy thinking with Batman about what the Knave (her brother) had warned her cautiously about. School was due to start soon and Alice had planned to put in as many hours at the asylum as possible.

At this point in time, her shapely bottom was pointed in the air as she cleaned up the dust bunnies that had acquired in the ridges underneath over the months of use. She used a spray bottle filled with a solution meant to clean wood and made sure to rub down every part of the desk before arranging the paper work that had been left out. It was Stephen Kellerman's office, so upon closer inspections, the flurry of papers spoke of Jonathan Crane- and as she skimmed some of the contents, Alice saw that he had been sneaking cologne in to the asylum and wearing small amount of his fear toxin on his person. Doctor Kellerman had written down points during his interviews with the old doctor of the asylum where he felt jittery, and by the ends of the reports, it was proven that Batman had been working with the Doctor to find out why Crane's previous psychiatrist, Dr. Comb, had been stuck inside of a hospital.

The walkie-talkie that was attached to the small girl's hip crackled to life as the southern drawl that had been heard many times throughout the day was on the other end. "Alice, please begin to make your way to the medical ward as a very dangerous patient is now coming through the Intensive Treatment Center part of the building. He is a Class 9 patient and is to be avoided at all costs." The woman on the other end continued as Alice pushed her cart hurriedly through the doors of the office and down the long hallway. "We, of Arkham Asylum, ask that all doctors and patients go back to their rooms and wait until it is safe to do so as a dangerous patient is being escorted in by the Batman."

Alice shivered as a foreboding feeling filled the air, finally reaching the medical ward and leaving her cart outside of the door and closing it behind herself as she smiled at the back of the new nurse, who had her hair pulled in to a tight bun that fell to the nape of her neck. She was in her own uniform tending to a patient behind a white curtain who would throw in a simple moan every few moments. Alice felt bad for whoever was on the other bed as it was definitely not enjoyable to be in the medical ward as most patients were forced to be chained to the bed if they were not in a comatose state.

The blonde patted down her black, ruffled skirt and laying down on her back, she let her eyelids close over her bright, blue orbs. It was right when she had begun to let her heart rate and her breathing slow that she heard the alarm ring through the speakers of the asylum. "Please stay calm, a patient has escaped from his-" The southern voice that Alice had begun accustomed to was rushed and higher pitched before it was cut off by a voice that any true resident of Gotham knew by the gooseflesh that would appear on their skin.

"Hello Kiddies! It's me, the Joker- here with your interesting news for the night!" He was laughing and Alice sat up as if she had been shocked. "In case some of you don't know, the cells have all been opened- and there's a nice surprise for some of you doctors after my men bring you to the middle of the Medical Facility." The blonde shivered and looked to her right where the nurse from before was beginning to leave through the curtain and as she came through backwards, someone much taller was following.

The nurse turned and sent her a smile as Alice saw the green question mark that was painted on the front of her uniform. Her hair was a mess of brown ringlets and her skin was a shade much darker than Alice's- her body tone and taught as the Riddler himself placed his arms on her shoulders and pushed her to the side as he now stood in his own clothing. The same jacket that he had met Alice with hung off his shoulders, and greenish brown dress pants clung to his legs.

"Who is left to wonder, when there is no land?" He questioned as Alice saw through the gap in the curtain by the other bed that what had once been his chains were on the bed and hanging off haphazardly while his old patient uniform was on the ground over a naked woman who was covered in blood. She was young and obviously not breathing. Blue eyes widened at the woman as Alice felt her breath hitch within her tiny throat. Her breathing continued after a few moments, and as the Riddler and the fake nurse stared on, she took a deep breath.

"Only Alice can wonder. As she is the one who has left, and must question what has happened to her friends." The only man in the room let a grin spread across his face as the tall, darker skinned woman looked between the two. Alice took the elastic that held her blonde hair high above her head in a ponytail, and took it out. Her hair fell to her waist with small waves and she began to back way, hiding her face under her hair in an attempt to not look at the man with the never-ending questions.

"Ah, ah, ah." His brown, gold and red hair was in her face as he let his head travel down her neck and towards the opening of the maid costume that she was wearing. "You correctly answered a riddle, and being on the guest list that Joker has is not something I feel the need to do right now. I've hidden my special riddles and trophies- specifically meant for the Batman- around the asylum grounds. Echo here is ready with Query- out in the car- to bring me to where I need to be. So tell me, how is one man is born a hero, his brother a coward, while babies starve, politicians grow fat, holy men are martyred, and junkies grow legion?" Edward smirked as he felt her throat tighten, as Echo was ignoring the two completely with a gun now in her hand.

"I- I don't know." Her voice was defeated and she was wondering if she were to be killed because she had not been able to answer the question that had been given to her. Alice felt he knees shake, and within seconds, buckle as she felt her body begin to fall. The Riddle-asking man held her by her upper arms however and began to lead her to the door with his hench-girl following behind the two. "Are- are you going to kill me?" Tears were beginning to form as she struggled to leave the man's arms as he held her closer to his own body heat.

Through a window in the hallway she watched as a hat was bouncing down the cobblestone that made the driveway of Arkham Asylum, two plump figures following behind and jumping in to a familiar truck that sped off within seconds. "No, no. The answer was something you just don't have right now. But, me, being the nice man that I am, am going to give you a chance to redeem yourself at a hideout of mine." She automatically knew the answer and attempted to let it pass through her pink lips.

She had no luck for a situation like this to happen. A riot in the asylum known for its murderous patients and killer intents. Alice attempted to pass the word through her lips but a sudden force brought down upon the area above her collarbone cut off all thought as the world went dark for her, and the Riddler slung her like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder. Echo carried his familiar golden tipped cane in her right hand while a gun was held in her left.

Other patients paid them no mind as the uniquely dressed duo carried the young, teenaged girl and placed her in the back of the black car. The group was sped off as the sound of sirens came from behind them and rushed to close the gates of the large island which held the array of buildings so that anyone else that would have escaped would have found it extremely hard- as there was no other way off of the island besides the now blocked bridge and boat.

"So, boss..." Alice was holding her eyes shut as the car moved and an alluring voice of a woman broke through her forced sleep. "Why do we have a girl with us?" The voice was joined by another woman's and Alice could hear Edward snort as the soft feeling that was holding her head shook and she felt her head shift forward as she guessed that Edward kicked the seat in front of him like a child having a tantrum- this continued twice more before she practically felt the smile on his face once again stretch.

"She's with us because she's a special genius, like me. And she's much too interesting to be caught up with what the Joker currently has planned. Hatter is out, and he'll be looking for her anyway, so she's going to be a bargaining chip for me." The car turned a sharp corner and an arm held her waist like a makeshift seat belt. "Query, drop me off in the usual building. I want to be able to see Arkham fall. Once that is done you two know the drill- what causes chaos?"

Alice was unable to stop her mouth as her voice stretched out of her body and met the ears of the now smirking man, who met her eyes as they fluttered open. "People. They speak of order but can only cause chaos. As chaos is movement." The car pulled on to a gravel road and the door to the car opened as the man of riddles pushed Alice up in to a sitting position. His arms snaked around her as he unbuckled both of them from their seats and forced her to scoot out from the vehicle as he followed behind. He made a swift movement with his hand towards the two woman who helped him with the majority of what he did and the screeching of tires was heard as their laughter followed in to the night.

"Come along, Alice. I want to make Batman answer my toughest riddles yet. And I want to have some more fun with you." His arms left her tiny waist and his large hands pushed against the bottom of her back. She was forced through the door and right in front of her was a large assortment of computer monitors and speakers which were on and working as he was able to see every room in the asylum, along with the tops of the buildings which made up all of Arkham. "I see he's close to one of my special 'Riddler trophies', he'll find it though. And he'll try to solve it with his idiotic brain because he likes to pretend that he's smart like people like you and me. But, he's not. He's quite dumb, because I'm close to finding out who he is."

He was visibly excited at the thought of unmasking the man and Alice looked around the large room for any form of escape besides the door which had been bolted shut behind them. There was nothing however, besides the dark abyss of the rest of the building which was full of glowing green paint with unsolved riddles.

His purple glove found its way around Alice once again as he pulled her on top of his lap. "Watch with me, because the next few hours may just be the most interesting of your life." And she had her head jerked to face the screens where patients were walking outside the buildings on the grounds with bats and other makeshift weapons in their hands. Occasionally, a shadow would be seen above them, but it was gone the next second. Joker could be seen in another monitor giving directions to Harleen Quinzel- Harley Quinn as she now called herself after falling in to the web of lies and deceit the Joker had spread to make her fall in love with him and help him with his own plans- and in the final monitor, off on the far right side of the set up, was a skinny man with various pumps strung to his arms and torso.

Riddler found his hands on her larger hips and ground her against him as she gasped and whimpered.

"What is in darkness, shards and grade- but, not in abyss, glass and mark?" He asked as he continued, the screen with Batman crawling through a shaft and lifting a trophy to illuminate his face.

"The l-letter 'd'." She struggled to say in her soft voice as she felt a wetness begin to pool in between her thighs.

"It's also not in you, I believe we'll have to change that." Blue eyes widened as his one turned to slits as he saw the light on his trophy go out, meaning that Batman had answered the riddle correctly. Her body was mashed closer to his as he hissed.

Kisses were spread over the length of her jaw as she was stunned still. Her submissiveness was enjoyable to him and he continued to watch the screens as she tried to pull away. Edward's hips began to lift up to meet her more and she knew what he had begun to mimic as she began to scream and try harder to pull away from him on his chair. The man simply ignored her though, and held her in place. The motions became faster, and before the short girl knew it, she was turned around to face him, his breaths just as heavy as her own.

Shoulder to shoulder, chest to chest, hip to hip and thigh to thigh. A pink lip was tugged between her teeth and the man with the question mark pinched her thigh that was covered by fabric.

"Dear God, no." She was trying hard not to whimper, but she did as thrusted up against her, seeing the Batman had found another closely placed trophy near the Pacification chamber.

"Not God, Alice. The Riddler."


	10. Chapter 10

The Riddler felt a sudden surge of anticipation run through him, augmenting his body temperature and accelerating his heartbeat as he stared at the young girl who was still clad in the maid costume. A pink flush made its way across the bridge of her nose and the bulge that had caused a tent in his pants grew noticeably harder as Alice tried, without any luck, to push herself away from him and out of his arms. His eyes looked away from her for a moment before beginning to ravage her neck with his mouth, groaning as she continued- holding back her own moans of ecstasy as their sex rubbed against one another.

Her face was pulled towards his and their mouths were entwined within moments. Alice was stunned and had stopped pushing as his tongue darted out to swipe across her plump lips before pushing inside of her mouth. "Alice..." The Riddler moaned out her name before she finally gained a small surge of strength and was able to jump off of his lap with his arms now loose.

"Stop!" The blonde girl was breathless and was sucking in air between her teeth as she stared at the riddled man. He stared back- his face much more calm as a smile made its way to rest between his cheekbones. Alice stared back at him and he sighed before turning in his chair so that he could go back to staring at the computer screens. Batman was darting around the room, away from a prisoner in Blackgate clothing that looked to be mutated.

Edward laughed to himself as he saw the prisoner fall to his knees and collapse. Batman looked confused at first before he began to walk closer to the large man. He began to laugh as Alice made her way closer to the wall that bordered the dark room around them- to afraid to wade further in to the darkness. "Tut, tut, tut Batman, don't worry about that large fool. I'm quite sure a person is incapacitated after suffering from a heart attack." Batman found out the man had a heart attack and nodded to himself before Joker came from his own hiding place and stood from an area which would cause him to fall to his death if pushed, offering Gotham's Dark Knight a free shot. "And, by doing that, you just caused his plan to finally set in motion." The Riddler said as Batman was unable to hit the laughing man with a Batarang due to his own rule of not killing people.

"Pardon me? What's wrong with Batman not killing The Joker?" Alice questioned from where her back was pressed against the wall, letting Edward rake his eyes over her small form. "I mean, he's always been able to capture you all in the past without killing anyone in the process, right?" At this, The Riddler laughed so hard that he had to wipe away the tears that began to pool in the corner of his eyes.

"Gotham's staunch protector is a cheater." He said, and left it at that as Alice stared at him with wide eyes, trying to make sense of his words. Riddles were easy, so long as you thought about them for a long enough time, but if someone said one thing and you didn't understand where it came from- it was much harder. "Now, there's nothing here for you to really concern yourself with. So, I suggest you sleep. What is to come is more for me than you. Now, tell me, how does a flower ride a bike?"

The blonde thought for a moment before tapping her finger on her slightly pointed chin. "It pushed its petals?" She was unsure but answered anyway as the smiled on the man in the room's face grew larger and his eyes focused solely on her body.

"How would you feel about pushing your petals to ride me?" At those words she fainted, sliding down the wall with her legs spread her breaths were shallow as The Riddler began to focus more on the screens in front of him. He waited patiently for the Batman to gather all of his hard riddles and watched carefully as Joker's plan continued the way that he predicted.

Alice was out of it for hours, and when she awoke she was on her couch with a blanket pulled over her body. She questioned if what had happened had been a dream until she noticed her television was set to the news station where Jack Ryder was speaking about the large Arkham Asylum breakout and hundreds of prisoners that were either missing or dead.

She shot up to a sitting position and looked around her small apartment and saw that nothing was out of place besides the blanket that was draped over her body and she sighed as she got up and went across the room to her kitchen to grab a glass of water. Her blue eyes shifted to her door, which was unlocked and when she walked with her glass of cool water in hand she saw that the lock had been broken and that she would have to talk to her landlord to have it fixed. So, she moved the chain and used it to force the door to close properly.

"I'm glad to see that you're okay. Tim told me that he was unable to get a hold of you through our phone and I knew that you were working so I was afraid that something had happened to you during the Asylum takeover." Alice jumped and felt some water splash against her uniform and her hand as she looked to the window and saw Robin standing partially inside of the shadows with his brown eyes focused on her.

"Yea." She said as she wiped her hand on the bottom of her skirt and put her glass on the counter top. Alice thought for a moment whether to tell him of what had happened between her and The Riddler but had decided against it after seeing him seem so happy at her safety. "I had run out the doors and made my way over the bridge before anything crazy happened. I was exhausted though, and fell asleep on my couch before I got a chance to watch what was happening. I though it would be handled- but looking at what's on the screen now, I seriously doubt that." She sighed as Robin moved towards her and placed a gloved hand on top of her head and let his fingers run through her long, blonde locks.

"Well, you and others were able to get out in time- which, is a good thing. Some of the prisoners broke out however, and Jonathan Crane is currently in the sewer systems. A large amount of doctors were killed during an explosion that took many lives." He sighed. "But, until they have a safe place to house the prisoners, the repairs that are currently being made to Blackgate have been expanded to hold more of the violent Class 9 prisoners."

The two both eyed the screen of the television as they heard the warden Quincy Sharp was now running for mayor of Gotham due to what had happened at the Asylum and was planning to make things better for all of the citizens. Robin swore under his breath and with a simple wave he jumped out of Alice's window. She stood in her spot and simply walked towards the television set and turned it off with the remote before slipping out of her costume- her tights still gone- and walking to her bathroom in her blue underwear set. She brushed her teeth in silence and let her eyes shut as she fell asleep on her bed.

The next morning, Alice still had not changed in to an actual pair of clothing and walked through her apartment and found her phone placed on top of her fridge. When she checked it, she saw that she had a multitude of texts from Tim, but as Robin had seen her last night she was sure that her texting him back was unneeded. The blonde also had a few text messages from an unknown number and a voice mail.

Her dainty fingers pressed the voice mail button first after deleting the messages from Tim. "Hello, Miss Alice. I am simply calling to tell you that for the following weeks- until everything is back on track at the asylum and we have a plan for what is to happen in the future- you will receive your last paycheck until the asylum is back running. Until then, you have been terminated."

Her eyes were wide from shock but she immediately grabbed a pen and piece of paper from a drawer in her kitchen and immediately wrote down that she had to find a job somewhere in the near future as the money that she had made working in the asylum wasn't going to last long with her barren fridge and rent money. At most, she would be able to go a month before the money that she wasn't saving would begin to run low.

This was the mindset she kept for a full three weeks while some of the Class 9 patients at Arkham stayed on the run and neither Tim or his other persona of Robin could visit her in her apartment because of this.

Money was beginning to run low and her food was beginning to spoil. So, with a sigh, Alice finally felt the need to leave her apartment. When she walked out of the building's hallway, dressed in a baby doll styled dress with a green bow tied in her hair, she was immediately pushed back inside of her room by a strong hand.

"You have got to face your fear." Alice fell to the floor and tried to move backwards as the tall man advanced upon her small frame. "Lying on the floor? Why don't you just step in to the nothing, what the hell am I here for, thinking that you could help me?" He continued and when Alice looked up, her blue eyes meant ones slightly brighter than her own. Jonathan Crane stood in front of her with his hood off, and needles that were no longer full sticking out of a gloved hand.

The blonde was below him as he shut the door that he had pushed his way through- her breath now shallow.

He laughed, deep and hearty. "Tell me, Alice, is this a place for me to stay?" He didn't wait for her to tell him otherwise as he made his way past her and towards her bathroom. "Fell free to go and do whatever you were doing before- I'll make sure that your door closes properly." She couldn't bring herself to do anything besides nod and ran out of the door with her small purse in tow.

When she came back twenty minutes later with groceries hanging off of her arms the door was opened for her and closed behind her by Jonathan as she began to put things away. Her blue eyes watched him in their peripheral vision the entire time, however, and she attempted to text Tim about the murderous man sitting on her couch, dressed in nothing from what she could see, with a navy blue blanket draped over his form. The moment that her fingers began to move, his voice made her still.

"I would suggest you tell no one that I am here- and I can help you find yourself a job that pays just as well as the asylum." Seeing her frightful eyes, he continued, knowing that a simple job would not stop the teenager from looking for help. "Also, along with a job, I can make sure that neither you nor the classmates that you will be joining in school in the next few days will stay alive." This stopped the text message that she had began to send to Tim.

"Robin stops by here periodically." Alice told him in hopes that he would leave her apartment.

"I have no reason to worry about the little boy wonder. The other will be keeping him busy so much that when he isn't in costume he'll be sleeping. It's just you and me here." His smile was wide as he stood up from her couch and let the blanket drop from his hips.


End file.
